Posts Tagged ‘police’

Wednesday, February 19th 2014 15:50: During the protest residents of NE Chalkidiki at Hondro Dendro have been attacked by riot police who were beating and dragging residents on the ground. Women who were participating at the protest formed human chains to stop the passage of buses with workers who were coming out of the construction site. Riot police attacked the demonstrators by beating them and using tear gas resulting in three people being injured and transferred to a local health center, according to information confirmed there were three arrests, two women and a man from Ierissos. The detained women have been transferred to the Polygyros Police Station. (The Ierissos village police station was burned down and abandoned about a year ago during a massive attack on the village by police invading homes during the early hours of the morning and abducting people in the dark).

People are still laying down on the ground unconscious, there is a massive call for medical assistance and residents are standing by for ambulances to arrive. As ambulances are not arriving one man suffering with heart/chest problems is being transported with a patrol car. Live reporting from the sight heard on the “Red” radio station includes statements as “they are dragging women on the ground” and “they are dragging my uncle on the ground who is suffering from heart problems”. “A man is seriously injured and is lying on the ground. Riot police squads have remained at the scene for over half an hour and are waiting for an ambulance and nothing came. We protest because they are once again breaking the law. They are clearing forest to open up the road, dumping dangerous mining waste, and are building structures without any permits. The police intervened and we did sit down in an act of civil disobedience and they have dragged the women to open up the road, they have arrested two women, one from Gomati and one from Ierissos. The two women injured have been beaten and dragged on the ground. We urgently need an ambulance, a man is suffering from heart problems is laying on the ground” said Lola Chrisouli, an Ierissos resident claimed at the “Red” radio station. Read the rest of this entry »

During the past week in Greece we are witnessing a new phenomenon of repression, based on the excuse of the hunt for a 50+ year old Marxist militant escapee (Chr.Xiros a convicted member of the 70s urban guerilla group “17th of November”), by the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) of the Greek police which has gone on an adventurous run of invading the personal and family homes of anarchists in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Below is a cumulative report of the cases reported to athens.indymedia.org alone, while there are reports of more invasions to homes not yet reported at this counter-information website. In some cases any findings that could possibly constitute a criminal charge has been used to detain, prosecute, anarchist activists. This is done without substantiating any evidence or relative excuse of why would they be selected as suspects of harboring a fugitive other that police files that describe them as anarchists.

Mainstream/establishment’s media briefly report on this campaign by the CTU without any details of why those search invasions are conducted and what are the criteria of selection of those targeted. Here’s a chronicle of the past 6 days of the number of home invasions/searches that have been conducted, how many trials took place, and how many comrades were charged and/or sentenced. Read the rest of this entry »

Kostas Sakkas (KS) was accused of involvement in the organization “Conspiracy of Cells of Fire”, was first detained in spring of 2010 and released in July 2013, after 38 days on hunger strike, and the manifestation of a huge wave of local and international solidarity movement (twitter: #Sakkas #FreeSakkas #Free_Sakkas). On his case the constitution and the penal law relating to time limits (of 18 months) of detention without trial was shredded. The release was accompanied by extremely restrictive conditions (concerning his residence, frequent appearances to authorities, and radius of free movement). On January 7th, KS was re-arrested and taken to the Three-Member Misdemeanors Court of Athens, in the case of a flagrant because of a few hours visit to a friend’s home. The accusation was ridiculous and completely unfounded in law: (breach of the restrictive condition of permanent residence at his family’s home!) He was tried and acquitted because the court found that the intra-day friendly visit to another house did not constitute a change of permanent residence; therefore, the restrictive order placed on his release was not violated in any way.

However, the repressive mechanisms could not acknowledge the failure of their design; they wanted KS back to prison. KS should return to prison at any cost to the credibility of bourgeois institutions. [Not because KS did something, but in a way it was a response, by the bourgeois regime and repressive mechanisms, for the discrediting disappearance of Christophoros Ksiros (November 17th convicted member on leave after a lengthy imprisonment). Also, due to the publicity received by the great solidarity movement to another anarchist prisoner, Spyros Stratoulis who after 61 days of a near lethal hunger strike (protesting the interruption of his right to periodic leave) was acquitted in court, which was the reason for revoking his right to periodic leave, provided and entitled by law]. Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday May 30, 2013, at around 21:30 pm, five people in a private car in the center of Athens abducted Bulut Yayla a Kurdish (Turkish citizen) political refugee. At that time the 24 year old Yayla was leaving a small Kurdish restaurant, when five people pounced on him, beat him and threw him in their car, covering his eyes and mouth. Four of the five kidnappers got into the car and vanished, while the fifth walked to where a Greek police patrol car was parked, for a few minutes after the incident.

The Kurdish political refugee kidnapping took place in front of some people who came to listen to the victim for help. Some of them recorded the license plate of the car (ZKI 8462). Relatives, lawyers and fellow investigating the issue contend that the unmarked car belongs to the Greek Police. Police officials denied all allegations and involvement and ordered an official inquiry on the issue; after the delivery of the victim was complete.

The next day the Greek Police moved the kidnapped victim close to the Turkish border, where they handed him to the Turkish (counter) terrorism agency. Throughout the mission he was wearing a hood and continued till the time he entered the Turkish agency van, according to the complaint filed later by the kidnapped. The vehicle crossed the border through an opening in the fence, bypassing customs control. Past the border he was forced into another vehicle and another group of cops took charge of his transfer to Istanbul, some of whom spoke English, Turkish, and more … Read the rest of this entry »